The Effects of Change
by The War Wizard
Summary: The Forerunner, a powerful species controlling a vast empire. The Flood, a powerful parasitic race. 2 races that slipped by the Reapers on the last harvest. The Protheans never visited Sol, and the Reapers never built a mass relay there.
1. Hard Contact

Standard Earth History.

2021 SE: The International Society of Civil Engineers is established on Earth. The focus turns to cleaning the atmosphere.

2025 SE: With the atmosphere of the Earth once again pristine, the ISCE turn their focus skyward. Construction on multiple space stations begins by the major world powers.

2030 SE: New alloys allow for Luna to begin to be colonized. Space flight between the space stations and Luna become common. The ISCE turns its focus toward the other celestial bodies in the Sol system. Mars and the Jovian moons are reached.

2040 SE: The colonies on Luna, Mars, the Jovian Moons, and numerous asteroids are completed and begin to question why Earth is in charge of the entire solar system.

2050 SE: Jovian Moons Campaign Begins. Jovian secessionist attacks on United Nations Colonial Advisers on the moon Io led to three months of fighting between the Earth military and Jovian "Frieden" forces. Though this was not the first armed conflict in the Sol System, it was easily one of the bloodiest, and is generally considered to be the spark of increased friction and militarization that followed. The Jovian Moons Campaign escalated tensions, as Earth's national governments, many of which sponsored colonies within the system, began fighting proxy wars off-planet. As these continued, tensions on Earth mounted, leading to a number of armed conflicts on Earth itself.

Conflicts of particular historical importance included the Jovian Moons Campaign, The Rain Forest Wars, and a series of clashes on Mars. As overpopulation and political unrest on Earth increased, a number of new political movements formed. The most noteworthy dissident movements of the period were the "Koslovics" and the "Frieden" movement.

The Koslovics—supporters of neo-Communist hard-liner Vladimir Koslov, sought a return to the glory days of Communism and the elimination of corporate and capitalist influence, particularly in orbital facilities and off world colonies.

The Frieden movement was a resurgence of fascism, springing from anti-Koslovic sentiment that had taken root in the Jovian colonies (largely backed by Unified German Republic corporations, frequent targets of Koslovic "workers' crusades"). "Frieden" literally means "peace", in this case; they believed that peace could be achieved only once the "oppressors on Terra Firma" were eliminated.

2055 SE: The Rain Forest Wars: Armed conflict ripped through South America, as Koslovic, Frieden, and UN forces all clashed over ideological differences, sparking additional conflicts off-planet.

The Battle of Delambre is speculated to have taken place.

The United Security Acts of 2059 and Homeland Security Act of 2059 are created.

2062 SE: In a conflict that stemmed from the Rain Forest Wars, the three primary Earth factions clash again, this time on Mars. A series of lightning strikes against Koslovic forces near the Argyre Planitia marks the first extra-terrestrial deployment of Marines. The campaign was deemed an unqualified success. As a result, future military doctrines favor large contingents of Marines for ground assaults and ship-boarding actions.

The United Nations Space Command was established to eliminate the various Rebel organizations in the Sol System.

2065 SE: UN sponsored military forces begin a pattern of massive build-ups, culminating in the first real interplanetary war. After the successful Marine deployment on Mars, recruitment drives and propaganda tactics strongly bolster UNSC (United Nations Space Command) forces. UN forces defeat Koslovic (supporters of rabid Communist hard-liner Vladimir Koslov) and Frieden (a resurgence of fascism) forces on Earth, and then begin a systematic and dedicated drive to crush their remnants on the various planets they hold throughout the system. At the conclusion, Frieden and Koslovic forces are defeated, in the face of a massive, unified and very powerful UN military.

The first UNSC military bioengineering protocols are created, which would later form the basis of the ORION Project.

2070 SE: The Callisto Treaty is signed. The Frieden and Koslovics formally surrender to the UNSC, officially ending the Interplanetary War.

A Unified Earth Government is formed in the wake of the conflicts of the 2060s. Now, the victors were forced to deal with a less obvious but equally serious threat: overpopulation and a massive military that had no enemy to fight. In the post-war period there were massive population surges and the overpopulation, coupled with the destruction and famine bred by the Rain Forest Wars, threatened to destabilize the economy.

2100 SE: In April, 2100, a group of researchers headed by Tobias Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa secretly developed the Shaw-Fujikawa Slip-space Drive, a practical means of propelling spacecraft across vast interstellar distances. This new engine allowed ships to tunnel into "the Slipstream" (also called "Slip-space"). Slip-space is a domain with alternate physical laws, allowing faster-than-light travel without relativistic side effects. Faster-than-light travel is not instantaneous; "short" jumps routinely take up to two months, and "long" jumps can last six months or more. The SFTE generated a resonance field, which when coupled with the unusual physics of the Slipstream, allowed for dramatically shorter transit times between stars; however, scientists noted an odd "flexibility" to temporal flow while inside the Slipstream. Though no human scientist is sure why travel time between stars is not constant, many theorize that there are "eddies" or "currents" within the Slipstream. There is generally a five to ten percent variance in travel times between stars. This temporal inconsistency has given military tacticians and strategists fits-hampering many coordinated attacks.

2130 SE: The Earth government unveils the first in a line of colony ships; given conditions on Earth are deteriorating in the face of overpopulation, hitching a ride out to a colony becomes a highly attractive option. Additionally, the Earth government plans to attach military personnel to each colony, to help better utilize the massive (and expensive) standing fleets. Because FTL travel is still fairly new and expensive, colonists and military personnel face a stringent regimen of physical and mental testing. In theory, only the best-qualified citizens and soldiers are allowed to colonize "nearby" worlds. This is the birth of the Inner Colonies; typically, the Inner Colonials are considered the most elite, best, and brightest.

2160 SE: The Odyssey is launched. The lead ship in the colony vessels, laden with troops and Terra-forming gear, spearhead the colonization of a new world. This sparks the first wave of Human expansion beyond the confines of the Solar System.

2170 SE: Traces of a previously undiscovered element discovered around Mars colony and Pluto, element deemed worthless for ship construction and FTL generation. Element shows promise in weapon construction.

2190 SE: Human space encompasses more than 800 worlds throughout the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy (ranging from fairly well-tamed planetary strong holds to tiny hinterland settlements). Outward expansion continued, and the Inner Colonies become a political and economic stronghold, though they rely heavily on raw materials supplied by the Outer Colonies. During this period, the planet Reach (orbiting Epsilon Eridani, right on Earth's metaphorical doorstep) becomes the UNSC's primary Navy yard and training academy. Reach is a major producer of warships and colony vessels, as well as a training ground for covert operatives and Special Forces.

2210 SE: The first Rebel insurrection in the Eridanus System begins.

March 2nd: Three UNSC Destroyers confront the insurgent-controlled UNSC Callisto in the 26 Draconis System at the culmination of the Callisto Incident. It is effectively the beginning of the Insurrection.

2213 SE: The Eridanus Insurrection is defeated by UNSC forces at the cost of four destroyers. Still, this is considered a monumental victory for the rebels, as most of their forces were still active.

The Colonial Military Administration's involvement with the Eridanus Rebels goes public, and its power begins to shift toward UNSC control.

2230 SE: A very important year for the United Nations Space Command, as this marked the initiation of the SPARTAN-II program, which would eventually give birth to some of humanity's greatest heroes.

2245 SE: Ninth Age of Reclamation begins with the ascension of the High Prophets of Truth, Mercy, and Regret. They declare that the Human race destroyed a vast Forerunner reliquary and are to be exterminated, starting the Human-Covenant War with the attack on Harvest. UNSC forces receive only one message. "Your destruction is the will of the Gods. And we are their instrument."

2246 SE:

March 1: Preston Cole's Fleet reaches Harvest and the Second Battle of Harvest begins. It is a human victory, but at an enormous cost. However, the Covenant also claim victory and celebrate through fasting and prayer. The Prophet of Regret televises the executions of "those who failed their duty" at the battle. The Covenant would return to Harvest later in the year, and the UNSC would respond. This led to a five-year long series of engagements on the planet, known by the UNSC as the Harvest Campaign.

March 10: The WINTER CONTINGENCY protocol is enacted by the UNSC.

2258 SE: Some time during this year, the SPARTAN-II Program was announced to the public, and any Spartan who dies is to be listed as ether missing in action or wounded in action, to give the illusion that Spartans never die in accordance with the Office of Naval Intelligence Directive 930.

September 9: Second Battle of Arcadia. The Covenant glasses Arcadia.

November 7: Cortana is created from Dr. Catherine Halsey's flash-cloned brain.

December 15: A mandatory psychiatric reevaluation for the members of Noble Team takes place. Jun-A266 is noted as having "an unhealthy emotional detachment in regards to the consequences of his actions".

2261 SE: The siege of Reach begins. One by one, Noble team is killed off. Chief Warrant Officer Jorge-052 died to destroy a Covenant supper carrier. Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320 was taken by a sniper round through the head. Commander Carter-A259 crashed a Pelican in to a Scarab, destroying it. Warrant Officer Emile-A239 was stabbed threw the back with a Sangheili energy sword. Lieutenant Spartan-B312 died to make sure the 'Pillar of Autumn' escapes Reach with Spartan-117 and Cortana on board. Events of Alpha Halo occur.

2262 SE: Invasion of Earth begins with the Prophet of Regret taking a super carrier in to orbit over New Membosa, Africa. A UNSC frigate the 'In Amber Clad' moves in close to the super carrier as it initiates a slip-space jump.

The events of Delta Halo occur.

2269 SE: 2269 was the penultimate year in the Human-Covenant War, during which the Humans of the United Nations Space Command nearly saw utter defeat and extinction, though the tide turned, and with the help of the Sangheili, won the Human-Covenant War. The Covenant were at the peak of their power and reach in 2260, with major assaults on the Human Inner Colonies and an invasion followed by a prolonged engagement on their home planet, Earth. During the battle at Installation 04, the galaxy found its first large outbreak of the Flood threat in over a hundred thousand years. Over two months later, an even larger outbreak occurred at Installation 05.

The war finally drew to a close at Installation 00, known more commonly as the "Ark", with the Humans and Sangheili attempting to assassinate the Prophet of Truth, before he could activate the remaining Halo Installations. The alliance was successful in their mission against the Covenant.

2272 SE: The UNSC and the Sangheili in competition to examine Forerunner artifacts, find the lie in the whole covenant religion. The evidence is accepted by the Sangheili, the Huragok, and the Lekgolo. This results in the creation of the Allied Species pact. The mutual defense and science investigation pact is developed to ensure that better technology is created for continued survival against rogue elements of the Covenant Remnant. Within a couple of months better shields, weapons and slip-space drives are created. Surviving ships of both species are recycled and roll out with equal capabilities. New ships begin construction with constantly evolving A.I. and all around abilities.

Council Era History.

500 BCE: Founding of the Citadel Council

The Citadel

The Citadel Council is formed. The asari and salarians together colonize the Citadel and establish it as a center of the galactic community, led by the Council. This year is also known as 0 GS, the beginning of the Galactic Standard (GS) time-line.

As a gesture of openness with their new asari allies, the Salarian Union opens the records of the League of One. Under threat, the League responds by assassinating every member of the Union's inner cabinet; Special Tasks Group operatives then hunt down and eliminate the League.

First contact is made with the volus. Eventually, the Citadel Council commissions the volus to draw up the Unified Banking Act, which establishes a standard galactic currency known as the credit and links all galactic economies.

The turian Unification War occurs. The increasingly isolated and xenophobic colonies on the frontiers of turian space go to war with each other. After years of fighting, the Turian Hierarchy sweeps in and pacifies the remaining factions. Animosity between turian colonies continues for decades.

200 BCE - 1 CE

The Council grants the volus the honor of being the first non-Council species with an embassy at the Citadel, rather than a Council seat.

First contact is made with the batarians. They are granted an embassy a century later.

The asari discover the elcor home system and help the elcor locate and activate their nearest mass relay. "Within one elcor lifetime" they establish a regular trade route to the Citadel and are granted an embassy.

First contact is made with the hanar and the quarians. Both races are later granted embassies.

1 CE: The Rachni Wars

A rachni soldier

The rachni, a species of highly intelligent hive-minded insects, are discovered when a Citadel expedition opens a dormant mass relay leading to their star systems. The rachni prove to be hostile and begin a war with the rest of the galaxy. Negotiation with the rachni queens is impossible because they cannot be contacted in their underground nests on the toxic rachni worlds.

80 CE

The Rachni Wars continue. The salarians make first contact with and uplift the primitive krogan, manipulating them into acting as soldiers for the Citadel Council. The krogan prove able to survive the harsh environments of the rachni worlds and pursue the rachni into their nests, systematically eradicating queens and eggs.

300 CE

The rachni are declared extinct. In gratitude for their aid during the Rachni Wars, the Council rewards the krogan a new home-world. Free of the harsh environment of Tuchanka, the krogan population explodes.

300 - 700 CE

The krogan begin to expand exponentially, colonizing many new worlds. Growing concerns about their expansion lead to the founding of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel.

700 CE: The Krogan Rebellions

Krogan warlords leverage veterans of the Rachni Wars to annex territory from other races in Citadel space. Eventually the Council demands withdrawal from the asari colony of Lusia, but the krogan refuse. A preemptive strike is made on krogan infrastructures by the Spectres. The Krogan Rebellions begin.

The Citadel Council makes first contact with the turians. In response to the threat posed by the krogan, they declare war. After the krogan devastate turian colonies with weapons of mass destruction, the turians respond with a salarian-engineered bio-weapon known as the genophage. The krogan population starts its decline.

The turians accept the volus as a client race within the Turian Hierarchy.

800 CE

The Krogan Rebellions end, though scattered krogan insurgent actions continue for decades. The turians fill the military and peacekeeping niche left by the decimated krogan.

The Citadel Conventions are drawn up in the wake of the conflict.

900 CE

The turians are granted a seat on the Citadel Council in recognition for their service in the Krogan Rebellions.

1400 CE

Extensive and unchecked industrial expansion on the drell home-world Rakhana begins taking a significant toll on the planet's environment.

1600 CE

The first sightings of the Collectors are reported in the Terminus Systems. In Citadel space, the claims are dismissed as unsubstantiated rumors and tall tales.

1880 CE

Aria T'Loak arrives on Omega, a space station in the Terminus Systems regarded as the region's nominal capital. Aria is hired by the stations warlord as an enforcer and quickly becomes one of his most trusted lieutenants.

1895 CE: The Geth War

A geth trooper

The geth, machines created by the quarians as a source of cheap labor, become self-aware. Fearing a geth uprising, the quarians begin dismantling them. The geth revolt against their quarian masters and, in the resulting war, systematically drove the quarians from their own worlds. The surviving quarians are reduced to living as space-faring nomads aboard the Migrant Fleet. Contrary to expectations, the geth do not venture outside the former quarian systems into wider Citadel space, instead isolating them from the rest of the galaxy behind the Perseus Veil. As punishment for creating the geth, the Citadel Council closes the quarian embassy on the Citadel.

1980 CE

Aria T'Loak assumes control of Omega after defeating the space stations previous warlord in single combat. She mockingly bestows the title "Patriarch" on the broken krogan, and uses him as a reminder to her enemies of her power.

2000 CE

The drell make first contact with the hanar around this time. With their home-world Rakhana severely depleted and no spaceflight capability, the drell were poised for a massive population crash by 2025 CE. Agreeing to help, the hanar mount a large-scale rescue operation and evacuate approximately 375,000 drell to their own home-world, Kahje, over the following decade. The remaining 11 billion drell on Rakhana gradually perish, warring over the last reserves of food and water.

2125 CE

The yahg, an intelligent pre-spaceflight race, are discovered on the planet Parnack. Ambassadors representing the Citadel Council arrive on the planet and attempt to open diplomatic contact. After the ambassadors are killed by the predatory yahg, the Council ceases all contact with the yahg and declares Parnack off-limits.

Not long after the yahg are discovered, one yahg is captured for the Shadow Broker to study. With the Brokers assistance, the yahg rapidly ascends within the Brokers organization as "Operative Kechlu". Eventually, the Broker becomes wary of "Operative Kechlu" and attempts to have him terminated, but the order is sent too late. The yahg assumes the mantle of the Shadow Broker and directs the organization for the next sixty years.

Story Start.

2300 SE, 2157 CE

UNSC science ship (looks like a prowler) 'Mountain Stronghold' sat in orbit around the unknown station outside the Shanxi colony. In escort to it were the UNSC Marathon class cruiser 'Without Doubt' and the Sangheili cruiser 'Selfless Charity'. It had been a week since the discovering of the station. Due to the shape of the station, a large amount of debate on what the purpose for it had been waged between the three captains. A large amount of debate ran on what the purpose of such a massive station could possibly be. The fact that it sat out in the middle of empty space, left the purpose up to anybody's guess. A mixed team of human, huragok, and sangheili engineers were aboard the massive station trying to crack the encryption of the computer system, they were having no luck. One human had the idea of having a smart A.I. brought on board for a quick hack, but nobody wanted to risk that the station's computer having a way to reverse hack the A.I. and having sensitive information being recovered.

The ships were running in 3rd shift, minimum secondary staff just monitoring the systems. The main crew was asleep until 1st shift rolled around in a couple hours. The A.I. and the science officer of the 'Mountain Stronghold' were discussing why they hadn't gone back to Earth yet as they had no idea what the device was for and had had no luck trying to hack the systems, when the sensor officer's console started to beep. "The censors have detected eight ships approaching in an unknown form of FTL." 'Lee' informed the officer. "You should call for the senior staff, Jackson." Officer Jackson nodded, "Senior officers to the bride!"

Within minutes, on all three ships, the third shift crew had been replaced by the senior crew and everyone was ready for the ship group approaching. They waited for an hour before the alien ships dropped out of an unknown form of FTL. They looked more like massive fighters than cruisers. The standard first contact package was launched, and they waited for a response.

The bridge crew waited with an anxious air for the aliens to respond. The A.I. looked up sharply after a moment, "Captain, massive energy build up suggests weapons and shields are being brought online!" "What?" he was only stunned for a moment, "Bring shields to full charge and charge the MAC cannon and load archer pods! Bring the plasma torpedo system online! Bring all flak defense and the laser defense systems online! Target the lead ship, but don't fire until fired upon! Are the 'Without Doubt' and 'Selfless Charity' ready?" Lee looked to the side for a second, "Yes captain." "Good. Lt. Landry, hail the lead ship." the Lt. nodded. After a few moments, he looked up, "No response captain." Lee looked up, "Lead ship firing on us captain!"

The ship's shields took the round, "Shields of the 'Without Doubt' holding at 90 % captain." Ryan Holderson looked across the void to the lead enemy ship, as the other aliens also fired upon the three Allied ships. "Target the lead ship and fire first MAC round." The ship shook as the MAC launched from the bottom tube. The round flew across the void in an instant. The ship's shield blocked the round, but the shield was completely drained to nothing. Multiple torpedoes flew from the 'Selfless Charity' and slammed in to the bow of the alien ship. The torpedoes blew causing multiple secondary explosions that ultimately shattered the ship. The rest of the alien ships focused their fire on the Sangheili cruiser. "Sir the new lead ship is trying to fly up next to us." "Target him and fire the remaining MAC rounds and half the missiles from pod 1!" Lee nodded as he plotted the new attack vector. The rounds discharged with a massive thump throughout the ship. They flew at the bogie number two, but they had a better pilot then bogie number one, and managed to dodge the first round and the second scored only a glancing blow across the port side. However the MAC round is designed in such a way as to cause maximum damage with even a glancing blow, and the barrier of the ship blew all power relays for the barrier throughout the ship causing injuries and fatalities all across the ship, not that it mattered long as the archer missiles slammed into it all along the port side, obliterating the ship from existence.

Bogies three through eight targeted the 'Selfless Charity', rightly guessing that the MAC's would take a while to reload. Plasma torpedoes and beams flash across the divide, trading place with mass accelerator rounds. The 'Without Doubt' launching missiles as the 'Mountain Stronghold' was retreating so they could open a slipspace portal. Within minutes, bogies three and four were dead in the water, slowly spinning out of the engagement. However the allied side paid for it, the shields gone and damage being paid directly to the hull. Bogies five, six and seven had lost their barriers and were taking damage from the combined missile and plasma bombardment. Bogie eight swooped starboard and low, coming up and port and low of the 'Selfless Charity', hitting her with a full broadside of mass accelerator rounds. Air venting from the numerous holes across her port side, the 'Selfless Charity' began to list lazily to her starboard and up. "Captain," the weapons officer called, "the MACs are reloaded!" The captain smirked, disregarded the blood from the cut on his forehead when the ship rocked from a vicious hit, "Destroy bogies five through seven! Put the wrath of God into these worthless bastards!" 'Lee' smirked, "Attack vectors plotted captain." He nodded and turned toward the weapons officer, "Fire at will."

Three flares of fire brightened space, as three massive slugs of depleted uranium flew through space and blew through the hulls of the designated ships. They shattered after the slugs finished their journeys. Bogie eight stalled for a bit as the 'Without Doubt' pointed her bow at her enemy. Missiles flew from the Marathon class cruiser, as bogie eight pulled up and port and jumped to FLT. "Detonate those missiles, and launch SAR missions to the 'Selfless Charity'. Let's see how many of our allies still remain aboard her." He turned to the replacement comm. Officer, as Lt. Landry's head had split when another hit had knocked him from his chair. "Launch a comm. buoy letting Fleetcom know we survived and to know that we have the survivors of the 'Selfless Charity' aboard. Once they are all aboard, let's get the hell out of here and do a fatality count." She nodded, as the Marathon class licked its wounds. Sorry it took so long. I will be revising each chapter one at a time. I hope everybody likes this better. Enjoy


	2. The TH Skirmish

Chapter 2

2301 SE, 2157 CE

The year following the 'hard contact' with another alien species outside of the Covenant was interesting to say the least. A massive naval build up had begun after the reports were released to the public. Multiple mothball fleets had been pulled back in to service; some had been poorly maintained and would take many months to restore them to active duty. A return to the system containing the mass relay was enacted and a massive amount of scrap from the aliens was recovered along with a large number of computer wreckage. It was hoped they could re-construct the computers, allowing data about their weapons and military might to be recovered.

The systems closest to the mass relay had been re-enforced with multiple battle groups from around the core worlds, where defense was much less of a problem. As the core worlds had fleets, automated weapons platforms and orbital MAC cannons, multiple battle groups wouldn't be missed from several systems. With the colony systems of Shanxi, New Kyoto and New Spain being unified colonies (containing species from all members of the alliance) and being closest to the system containing the mass relay, they were backed by UNSC and Covenant Separatist battle groups. The three UNSC battle groups, 36 UNSC ships, each UNSC battle group having 12 ships (3 battles cruisers (Warlock class with three belly mounted MAC cannons, Babylon 5), 1 fighter carrier (refit Spirit of Fire colony class ship, UNSC) and 8 frigates (In Amber Clad, UNSC)), in each system were patrolling the outer edge of the colony, while the inner colony was patrolled by the two Covenant Separatist battle groups, each consisting of 15 ships (1 super carrier, 3 battle cruisers, 4 cruisers and 7 corvettes).

2301 SE, 2157 CE

July 10th

Battle group 32, nicknamed Earth's Wrath, had been in system for over a month. They'd launched probes in the direction of just about every system that could possibly lead in to Shanxi System. Granted, they were doing the exact same thing all the other battle groups had done before them, they still felt the need to have at least some type of monitoring for the battle group. John Sheridan, captain of the 'Zeus Wrath' and lead battle cruiser of the battle group, looked in to the dark abyss of space. He'd had a funny feeling all day, and had ordered all ships to run at full alert status. He'd climbed the ranks of the UNSC by trusting the feelings of his gut. He knew something big was going to happen this day. "Captain to the bridge," he looked over at the intercom, and knew, this is when it would start.

When Sheridan arrived on bridge, the toga wearing smart A.I. Zeus, representation of the ship, rose from his holo-port and spoke, "Captain, I've detected faint signals that suggest ships in coming." The A.I. was never perturbed by anything, "Zeus, arm all missile batteries, plasma batteries, point defense systems and charge the Mac Cannons for full three round bursts. Zeus, ship-wide comm.," the A.I. nodded, "This is the Captain, prepare for ship to ship combat. Everybody, battle-stations! Alert the rest of the battle group of your discovery." "It shall be done on your word Captain." The message was sent, and all ships had taken a stationary position. The other two battle groups had taken a forward position, the group commanders wanting a piece of the action to come.

With very little warning, ships started jumping in to the system and the UNSC battle groups adopted a pyramid formation and a message demanding the unconditional surrender of the invaders was sent out by the lead ship of battle group 44 named the 'Flood's Fall'. Enemy ships just kept coming and the UNSC battle groups were forced to back off a bit giving more room. Unknown to the defenders, this wasn't a small border skirmish as originally thought by High-Com, this was a Turian Main Battle Fleet, numbering four hundred vessels, and when they believed they had the advantage, eight ships launched a concentrated blast on the 'Flood's Fall', blasting through the shielding and ripping it apart. With that action, the Turian Human war had begun. With the remains of the 'Flood's Fall' listing away from the formation, the pyramid formed defenders unleashed hell upon the invaders. Missiles and plasma torpedoes flew in to the invaders formation. The missiles impacted the barriers of the invading Turian ships, wiping them out, while the plasma torpedoes inflicted massive structural damage. Just before the Turian general could order a scatter, the cruisers unleashed their MAC rounds. 24 600 ton rounds traveling at 30,000 meters a second tore through the weakened barriers of the Turian warships, followed by the ships themselves. Twenty Turian capital ships died in an instant. With forty more utterly crippled.

Both sides opened up at that point. Mass accelerated rounds tore in to the shielding and armor of the UNSC defending craft. With the concentrated fire of multiple turian cruisers, 1 of the UNSC cruisers vanished in a ball of fire. To discourage this tactic, the defenders launched missile groups in to the ships starting to gather. This slowed the enemy, but too many of the enemy had seen the successful tactic. Within an hour, 1 of the fighter carriers disappeared in to the abyss, shortly followed by 3 frigates. Another frigate vanished in following the carrier only minutes after.

Sheridan looked out in to the void, seeing light flashing in both directions, and gave the order for a regroup closer to the colony. Instantly, every ship still capable opened a slip-space rift and fled closer in system. The bridge gave a lurch, as the 'Zeus Wrath' reentered normal space. "Status report!" the order was barked to his tactical officer, who stumbled to form it. "S-sir, ten ships lost with all hands including 3 battle cruisers, 1 carrier and 6 frigates on our side, seventy enemy ships destroyed, fifty more incapacitated, including thirty of the battle cruiser analogs." The entire bridge crew looked at him in shock. "Put me on with all ships," the comm. Officer nodded and several minutes later pointed at the captain. "This is Commander John Sheridan, as of now, I'm taking command of the defense fleet. We've just seen what the enemy is capable of now, we've all lost friends on those ten vessels, and I can say with all honesty that we still face a massive force still against us. What we need to do is just to hold the line against these sons of bitches until the Thirteenth Fleet can get to us. Our boys our coming people, and when they do they'll unleash an unholy fire against these bastards. Now let's go return the bloody nose they just gave us!"

The UNSC ships fought a retreating battle toward Shanxi colony, with the superior range of UNSC MAC cannons and other weapons arrays; they stayed just out of the Turian's effective weapons range. Within three days, the remaining UNSC ships, 2 battle cruisers, 1 carrier and 10 frigates, consisting of the remains of all three battle groups with the 'Zeus Wrath' leading, pulled back till they were inside the range for a C.S. trap to be sprung upon the turians. Once the Turians got closer to Shanxi Colony itself, the Sangheili battle groups came out of hiding behind the moons of Shanxi and began their own plasma bombardments with eight ships unleashing their energy projectors upon the unlucky enemies. The world burning weapons punched through the enemy barriers in less than the blink of an eye. Fifteen ships were burned away before they could get out of the C.S. weapons way. But they still had to contend with over two hundred remaining enemy vessels. Both C.S. super carriers were destroyed with the combined fire of a hundred vessels apiece. With so many of the enemy focusing on the super carriers, thirty enemy vessels vanished under assault by the sixteen cruisers left. Small fighters flew all over the battle field, from the original contact point to the new battle grounds and every place in between. Thousands were dead before the turians even set foot upon the colony. And thousands more would die before either side got reinforced. The A.S. would receive their reinforcements first, with the 7th Fleet, consisting of one hundred and ten vessels (30 Battle cruisers, of mixed hull designs, 50 frigates, and 30 mixed support vessels).

2301 SE, 2157 CE

July 20th

General Williams and Ground Commander San'Lee sat in the command bunker, commanding the Shanxi defense force. The human turned to the Sangheili commander, "Well their drop ships will be in atmosphere tomorrow night. Looks like our flyboys couldn't hold them forever." The sangheili commander nodded, "Yes, and our troops will meet the enemy on the ground. Do we have many seraphs or sabre fighters?" The general nodded, "We have an eight flight for each, with twenty banshee and four longsword bombers. But that's it. We don't have the numbers to hold off the thousand assembled drop-ship and fighters." "Then we shall hold till the last warrior. Have the civilians been evacuated to the shelters?" the human nodded and replied, "Then it has been an honor fighting with you and I hope our children will fight side-by-side in the future." The sangheili nodded in return, and they prepared the defenses of Shanxi.

The first landing party for the Turian suffered much just to put boots on the ground. Landing cost them one fourth of their total strength as the effective allied anti-air kept any turian fighters from the sky. Once landed, the allied rocket and mortar crews kept the ground forces at a standstill. The UNSC Rhinos and Scorpions and the C.S. Wraiths had incredible fire power and armored hides but lacked the speed of the turian hover tanks. All it took was 3 to 1 odds in favor of the turians to destroy the defending tanks, which they had in abundance. Unarmored warfare was in the allied forces favor. Better armor and heavier weapons allowed for the defenders to move in and out of a battle engagement quicker than the enemy. Snipers waged their deadly skills on both sides, grunts fought it out in buildings and on the streets, Longswords and Phantoms dropped bombs on enemy positions, and all around the enemy landing positions, the allied defenders dealt and received death. Before the first week was out, thousands of turians were dead, but so were hundreds of the allied defenders. The defending ground forces, a fixed number of forces at least for a few weeks had to fight smart. The turians could call in reinforcements, which they did. The anti-air was taken out in the first couple of days after initial landing.

The end of the war came about through the use of a stealth prowler sent through the mass relay to the Citadel using captured Turian star maps. While in stealth mode, the prowler the 'Undecided Fate' sent a message for the Council to open negotiations to bring about the end to the Human-Turian war. The council, having never heard of humanity before that day minus the Turian Councilor, was surprised at first. They then demanded an explanation for the seeming over site. Once brought up to speed about the war, they immediately put a cease fire in place to stop the war on the Turian side and opened negotiations. Within days of talking to the Council, the UNSC discovered that the entire war had begun because of overzealous captains trying to make a name for themselves by attacking someone they thought was going to cause a catastrophic error in the relay. They hoped that by destroying those fooling around with a relay would get them out of border duty. When talking to the Council, they discovered the Turian councilor was less bigoted then the captains leading the campaign against the A.S. controlled colony of Shanxi. With this they were able to use his words to help put a true stop to the conflict, rather than the cease fire that existed. When the Salarian councilor made a statement about bringing war ships in to A.S. controlled systems, as they would surely be joining the council, the A.S. representatives made it clear they had no intention of joining the Citadel as their laws clashed a great deal with the laws that existed in A.S. systems. The leader of the Sangheili part of the A.S. council, named Atvar, explained that they were open to the possibility of trade, and gave the council info on serious threats, like the Halo Array, the Flood and the Covenant Loyalists that might attack if they discovered citadel space. They provided the gun cams from deceased marines to ship cams. They provided all the necessary information to prove their claims, minus the Halo arrays. They showed footage of the massive rings, but the council refused to believe that anything could be that powerful.

"Believe what you want councilors, but everything we've told you about is absolutely true. We have no problems keeping warships out of Citadel space, but we would like to open trading with the citadel species to hopefully have decent relations between our two powers. Now please order the Turian Hierarchy to pull their forces out of A.S. space." With those words, the A.S. delegation left the council room heading for docking. The council pulled back the Turian armed forces and put out a notice through the information networks for all warships to stay out of A.S. claimed space.

2307 SE, 2163 CE

In a massively controversial move, the Allied Species inducted a new member to their group, the Quarians. The Quarian people had been without a home since the Geth had forced them off their colonies and home-world, and had been forced to wander the stars for more than three centuries as the council refused to give assistance. The Quarians' Migrant Fleet had accidently stumbled upon a system controlled by the A.S. in their endless quest to provide supplies to the Quarian people. The system, Harvest, was unoccupied, except for a small research station conducting studies and experiments on the effects an evolutionary dead planet could provide. The planet in the life zone still had an abundant of fauna; however the fauna had remained the same for millennia.

Of course the Quarians had heard of the A.S., but the A.S. borders were largely unknown to them. There were many in Citadel Space that believed the Quarians deserved their fate as they had unleashed the Geth on the universe. Even though the Geth hadn't been seen outside of the Perseus Veil in those three centuries, the people of the galaxy still placed a large amount of hatred upon the Quarian people and saw them as nothing more than vagrants or thieves. Within hours of meeting the A.S. Council, the Conclave was mostly sold on the idea of joining with the A.S. it took three months to hash out the details with the Conclave, though most of the Admiralty Board was against the idea. They wanted to go and take their home-world back from the Geth, with Rael'Zorah leading that charge. Ultimately, the Conclave accepted the deal as the planet was perfect for them. With the sun putting out very little radiation, the planet was left in a retarded state. Almost no evolution could take place. Very little bacteria or germs of any sort would prevent the Quarians from getting infections from foreign bacteria.

The move caused a huge debate between the council and the A.S. ambassadors to the Citadel, which now included a quarian among them, justified themselves by saying where the council had forsaken the Quarian people the Allied Species would not. A Quarian was asked to represent the interests of the Quarian people in the A.S. leadership to insure a fair amount of coverage. Rael'Zorah from the Admiralty board was chosen. He left his three year old daughter Tali'Zorah nar Rayya with his wife on the new home-world of Harvest to develop an immune system better than his own. Blood samples were taken by U.N.S.C. scientists to begin decoding the Quarian genome. It was hoped that within a few years at most, the U.N.S.C. scientists would be able to develop a treatment for the Quarians immune systems.

2313 SE, 2169 CE

With the introduction of quarian mechanics, the A.S. Council decided to commission a mutual defense fleet that would house and employ the best and brightest from all five races of the A.S. and present a united face to the rest of the galaxy. It took a lot of convincing along with numerous other concessions, but the Quarians were convinced to accept A.I. on the new defense ships. They were understandably leery about welcoming A.I. onto ships due to the Geth, but they discovered that 'dumb A.I.' were only a tiny bit more sophisticated than a V.I. (virtual intelligence), while 'smart A.I.' were based on the workings of the minds of the species they work for. The thing that convinced them, more than anything, was meeting a Sangheili A.I. who was created from the flash cloned brain of the Arbiter (the rank of Arbiter is now the leader of all Sangheili military forces) Thel'Vadam, named after his most challenging adversary John. Finding out that an A.I. took the name of his friend after his friends supposed death, told them that the A.I. had emotions. The Geth had no such thing, and as such were fundamentally different.

A.N.

_**Sorry it has taken so long to rewrite this chapter, but life is kinda weird. Anyway, I hope that this chapter is up to standard and everybody enjoy.**_


	3. The Inter Species Fleet

**_This chapter was meant to be rather short as it was just to introduce the inter species fleet. I rather think that Star Fleet had it right by mixing their member races. Anyway, I'm rewriting the fourth chapter and then I'll write the next chapter._**

2333 SE, 2189 CE

The solar system had been untouched since its creation at the beginning of time. None of the space fairing species in the universe had been to this system. And with no warning, a massive disk of energy opened, and out of the disk poured a very interesting fleet of ships. The ships remained stationary for a moment as they regained mass as their mass effect fields deactivated. The design for the ships in the fleet was interesting to say the least. The ship design was around a central spine with wings starting from the bottom, sweeping down and going both ahead of the central spine and slightly past the back of the spine. The wing extends to a central hub above the central spine with two spires running from the central spire. The wings also have a spire running between the two wings (Common Wealth war ships, Andromeda). The central spine of the different sized ships had a different number of MAC cannons running along the bottom of them. They also have multiple plasma, missile and flak cannon gun ports running along the wings and the central spire. The dreadnaught sized ship (the only one in the fleet and twice the size of a citadel council dreadnaught) had a whapping seven MAC cannons and had a reactor for each, not including the five for ship functions, the cruiser sized ships (numbering fourteen, the size of a council dreadnaught) had four MAC cannons with three reactors for the MACs, not including the three for ship functions, destroyers (numbering twenty, fifty percent bigger than a council frigate) had two MAC's with one reactor for them, not including the two for ship functions, the frigates (numbering twenty-five, a quarter bigger than a council frigate) had just a single MAC with, the firing rate rather slow as they had to share the reactor with the rest of the ship. The support ships (numbering in the fifties), from cargo carriers and troop transports to dedicated medical ships, lacked the heavy hitting MAC cannons. They were armed with shields and different weapons platforms, from anti-fighter/missile Guardian lasers and flak cannons, to missiles and small mass drivers. Even though they had noncombat roles to play in the fleet, they would remain armed In case they had to make an escape move.

The 110 ships of the fleet swooped in from the outer edge of the four planet system. A thorough scan of the system was initiated once a stable orbit in system was established. The dreadnaught 'United Horizon', flag ship of the First Unified Fleet, was conducting the first deep scan of the system. In the bridge of the ship, the sangheili A.I. Radeem Jar Satee's avatar rose from her display, "Admiral, the scan had been initiated. The star is a white dwarf type. There are no planets sitting in the life zone, one is in the deep freeze zone, two are gas giants lie in a twin orbit at a Saturn distance and the last lies to close to the star to make any mining effort extremely difficult and costly. So far we've discovered a high concentration of Element Zero on both of the gas giants. Minor concentrations of titanium and platinum sit on the ice ball. In my opinion, it's worth building a base in system for mining the planets." The quarian admiral steeped his fingers in contemplation of what Radeem told him. "I like to be thorough, so what can you tell me about the planet close to the planet."

Admiral Advara'Tpal, the admiral assigned to command the first interspecies fleet, was well known for his tactical expertise. In his first assignment, then captain of an older model quarian guard ship stationed to guard Rannoch 2 in the Harvest system in 2320, rallied the scattered armed ships in orbit in to a very adequate defense against a group of Batarian slave ships that launched a surprise raid against the newly established quarian world. The batarians stalled seeing the small group of ships in orbit. The ships were a mixture of different species' ships. Human, quarian and sangheili light cargo and freighters marked the largest ships in the motley defense fleet. Captain Advara was well aware what the Batarian presence represented in the system. As the quarian people had had a completely expected population boom with the suddenly free space, most of the females were or planned to become pregnant, the batarians must have wanted some of the newborns or the pregnant females to take back to sell as slave labor and entertainment. He wasn't about to let that happen on his watch as guard captain of the planet. Captain Advara made sure to send a warning that the batarians had entered restricted space and they should turn away from their current course making sure that they knew they would be considered hostile. When the batarians responded by laughing and sending back a surrender notice, he sent back the well known human expression 'fuck off' in every language he had access to. Needless to say the batarians were unimpressed.

When the batarians began to move in to an attack position, he ordered the sangheili ships to fall back around the batarian attack force and the planet, thus using the gravity of the planet to slingshot around for more speed in their attack run. What the batarians were unaware of, was the fact that though the ships were light and heavy cargo freighters, they were still armed and shielded. Even the small number of quarian ship had been outfitted with shield generators. He planned to use these to his full advantage. After the sangheili began to fall back around the planet, he ordered the human ships to pick off any ship headed toward the surface for a slaving run, while also sending a message to the surface to prepare marine intervention. A message was also sent toward another Allied Species system to call for a battle group.

The batarians came in swinging, their mass effect cannons firing at full capacity. None of the initial shot got past the shields, and a small missile response was sent in return. Most of the A.S. missiles were picked off by the batarian Guardian Laser Net, but a few got through, and several batarian light craft vanished in to the dark. By this point, Advara had already given the evasion order, as the batarians launched another wave of shots. Most of the shots went wide, but a few hit, and a single human ship vanished in a massive explosion. The batarians began to launch their landing craft when it looked like the defense fleet was breaking off the engagement. When the landing craft got closer to the planet, the human part of the defense fleet swooped down on them almost red-lining their reactors, firing missiles and small mass drivers' straight threw them. They swooped around them multiple times, as the defensive weapons on the landing craft were all on the nose of the craft. And soon all the landing vehicles were destroyed or disabled, and the human vessels regrouped with the quarians. The batarians weren't laughing now, as all their landing craft had been blown out of the sky. Their main attack ships began to move in to begin attacking the defense fleet again, as the sangheili force came around the other side of the planet with plasma batteries rolling. The few armed with plasma torpedoes launch their full spread, knocking additional ships from the sky, as the rest of the defense fleet came forward in a pincer attack run. Caught between the two attacking sides, the slaver force completely broke. Some tried to run, others tried to fight back. It was at this point that the backup battle group came in to the system and took control of the defense as the remaining batarian ships were destroyed and the defense fleet pulled back. In the end, over seventy percent of the defense group was destroyed, but the slavers had been completely destroyed. Every member of the crews of the destroyed and still active ships received numerous medals and places of honor in history. Captain Advara received a promotion to admiral and was awarded command of the First United Fleet because of it.

Now he was in charge of the exploration and mapping of the area known as the Skyllian Verge and potential task of 'first contact' with any new species they may find along the way. They had deep scanned six systems since they had launched. They had found two different systems that had the potential for colonization. Neither had the necessary radiation levels for his people, and sent the message, and they were then claimed by the sangheili and the Lekgolo. The humans accepted the claim and two different colonization fleets left for the two systems. So far all six systems had the capability for mining, but some would be costly. They were aware of the batarian claim on the whole of the Verge, but disregarded that claim. They had been monitored and no large scale move to colonize the Verge had been launched by the batarians in the last forty years. Thus the A.S. government allowed the two species to claim the systems.

So far, the First United fleet had fought off different pirate groups multiple times. The batarians were an old favorite, as they had equipment in the worst possible condition. The Eclipse and the Blue Suns were the longest lasting fights, but even they didn't like tangling with anything dreadnaught class. The Blood Pack was stupid enough for it though, and had decently kept equipment for it to be something of a fight. Not much of one, but there you go.

For the past couple of days they had been getting unknown signals from a couple of systems, and wanted to go investigate them, but had yet to receive the go ahead to investigate them. If they got the go ahead, they would put the exploration mission on hold to go see if they might find a new species.

"Admiral, I'm receiving a message from Highcom. They are giving us the go ahead to find out who is putting out those signals. They also inform us that if we do find a new species, that we're to make first contact, depending on the level of their space travel, we may be introducing them to their first example of interstellar travel. Message ends there." He nodded, "You heard him helm, make the course toward the signals. Com, inform the rest of the fleet that as soon as the scan is complete we're moving out." The two officers nodded at their orders and got to work. "Sir, fleet reports ready." "Course is calculated and input." "Very well, let me know as soon as the scans complete." With that he left the bridge and headed for his personal quarters to wait and relax.

Three hours later, Advara was roused from his book by the intercom; "Admiral to the bridge, the scans complete." Radeem's voice rang out over the intercom. He out of his chair and made his way to the bridge. As the door opened, he walked to his chair. "Did the scan find anything interesting, or is this system simply a mining arena?" The A.I. actually looked interested in the results. "Actually, the scan shows that there is a structure below the atmosphere of the far gas giant. The evidence suggests that this was a mining planet. The mining platform is still operational; however they don't seem to be mining the same thing we would. The element zero has remained untouched, while a substance we have no use for is contained in the processing banks. I am unaware whether the mining facility is connected with the signals coming from the uncharted area. I have yet to record any signs of known FTL, so I don't believe that they are connected." "Are there any life signs coming from the mining platform?" Radeem looked down to the right for a moment, and then looked back up, "Yes, I'm picking up crew for in 15 different sections of the mining station. They seem to be going about their daily lives." Advara looked thoughtful for a couple of minutes, as he thought about the situation he found his fleet in. "Alright, we'll wait for a couple of standard earth days to see if any ships enter the system. If they do, we make contact. If they don't, we'll leave a scout satellite to monitor the system for ships. The next time any ships enter the system; we'll be aware of it and can send a group of ships back to contact this new species. In the meanwhile, we'll be heading toward the signals coming from that system. Send a report back to High-Com stating that the system is pending further investigation as to the viability of using the system as a mining base. Set fleet course to star system 'Sig Alpha'." With that, the entire fleet changed direction from the in system star toward star system labeled 'Sig Alpha' and massive disks of energy opened, allowing the fleet to proceed to the higher dimension known as 'slipspace'.


	4. The New System

_**The size of an A.S. dreadnaught is only slightly smaller than a Covenant super carrier. The A.S. dreadnaught is smaller than a covenant super carrier, but way more heavily armed, armored and shielded. The Citadel species, on the other hand, still use the size scale outlined by the council. Thus the asari dreadnaught guarding the citadel is still the biggest ship in citadel space, though A.S. intelligence believes the council has commissioned a much larger vessel from the turians.**_

2333 SE, 2189 CE

It took four days for the fleet to reach its destination. Only one system existed between the mining colony and the system that the signals existed in. They passed it by, leaving only a few scout probes to monitor the system till they could come back for a full scan later. The journey was uneventful. They encountered no pirates or any obstacles in the way. Half-way through the four day trip, Advara thought to ask the A.I. what she thought about the signals and what they might find.

"Can you get any reads on the signals yet, Radeem?" Advara asked of the A.I. Radeem looked thoughtful for a couple of moments as she compiled the data, "Yes, they are definitely communication signals, though carried by a different energy channel then we or the council uses. We use slip space relays, while the council uses subspace. Whoever these people are, they use quantum based signal relays. The assumption can be made that they hoped that by sending their messages by quantum channels, the messages might go through some time dilation and the message would arrive before they sent the message, and help would arrive right when they needed it," she thought for a moment, then spoke up again, "I don't think it would work the way they planned it though. The quantum channels are just too narrow for the signals to gain any leeway forward or backward through time. Other than that, I haven't finished braking down the language yet. There are four different languages being spoken in that system, and all four of them are completely different than any language spoken in the known galaxy. With me trying to break down all four of them, they are taking a while to translate. I can tell you they are conversing."

The admiral nodded in thought, "Alright, when you're finished let me know," the A.I. nodded, "com, when you get one of the language packages I want you to go over it as quickly as possible. If you have to, upload it and use the universal translator. I would just prefer to hold that in reserve though."

The human officer nodded, the admiral turned to a sangheili officer, "Weapons, I want all seven MACs charged to thirty-five percent. Don't have the missile pods loaded, but charge the plasma turrets to fifty percent of full. I don't want any charge traveling through the energy projector, that thing is a very last resort weapon at best, and a war crime at worst. I want this down at an hour out of system. I don't want them to think we're here to take over, but I'm going in to this situation at least cautiously." The sangheili officer nodded at that and got to work.

"Radeem, give me fleet wide." She nodded, "You're on admiral." "Thank you Radeem. Fleet personal, we're two days out of a system that has four undiscovered species in it. We don't know the situation of this system, or what type of species they are. Whether they have anything to do with the mining facility we discovered two days ago is unknown. We do know that they aren't attacking each other, and they have a space presence. We'll be dropping in to the system in two days, and I'd like to think that everything is going to go excellent, but we're a realistic group of species. We'll be coming in to the system with MACs thirty-five percent of power, missiles will remain un-armed, but charge plasma turrets to fifty and shields up. We will not be taking the first shots, as we do not want a repeat of the Turian/Human War.

"I have Radeem Jar Satee, A.S. Smart A.I. number 08996, working on braking down the alien languages so we can get a dialogue going between the A.S. ambassadors and the native ambassadors. Once down I will be sending the language package to the ambassadorial ship, the 'War's Break', and I will be sending the package to all the captains in the fleet so that their com officers can study up and hopefully learn the language and we won't have to show off the universal translators. Be prepared, be cautious and don't be foolish, and we just might come out of this ahead of the citadel council," all over the fleet, chuckles were heard as they thought about what the council would have to say about pulling four new species in to the political arena, "I want the captains to have their weapons armed at an hour out of system. That will be all, dismissed."

The other two days passed quickly.

Radeem finished breaking down two of the four languages, while the other two would take several more days to finish breaking. One of the languages, the A.S. species was capable of speaking, while the other was not as the language required a liquid gland in the mouth to produce. The evidence spoke that one of the species was most definitely bipedal with a similar structure of the mouth as humans, while at least one of the others was evolved from an ocean world. The fleet dropped out of slip space at the very outer edge of the system, and began to make their way toward the inner system.

Radeem picked up numerous stellar bodies, some natural, but the vast majority were not. She made the admiral aware of them, but was told to focus more on what was obviously a defense fleet forming quickly out of amalgamated ships from all four species ranging from what would be a Citadel corvette to the largest that was about the size of an A.S. cruiser.

"Helm, stop well outside of what would be our effective weapons range." The Lekgolo colony nodded, "Com, patch me through to the 'War's Break' and put it on the display." The image of the ambassador's bridge came on the screen, "Ambassadors, you're on." The ambassadors; human, quarian, sangheili and the recently added Lekgolo, nodded as they cut the connection.

Radeem observed the ships as they gathered. They moved quickly, and efficiently. Even though they were of four different species, they moved with the quick efficiency of a well oiled navy. She had noticed all the artificial satellites, but only now focused on the fact that there were five different satellite designs. That meant that either they wiped out the fifth race, which was doubtful as there were only four planets in the life zone, or they had been invaded at least once.

"Sir, they might attack before we achieve anything of significance. Evidence shows that they might have been invaded at least once in the last hundred years. I suggest that we pull back further to prove that we mean no harm!" Advara snapped to the com officer, "You heard the lady, tell the fleet to pull back to double the effective weapons range!" the com officer sent the message. It took a minute, as the defense fleet continued to gather quickly.

The fleet started to pull back, as the ambassadorial ship continued to make its way in to what they believed was the aliens' effective weapons range and took a holding steady position inside the kill zones, with only shields active to present the least threat possible. The message was a standard; we come in peace and would like to speak to some people in charge, and have not come to start any hostilities. The native species ignored the message and continued to gather their forces behind their dreadnaught sized vessel. "Ambassadors, pull back now." The admiral's voice went over the com channel, as the alien forces picked up speed in their build up.

The ambassadors' small U.N.S.C. shuttle flipped around and headed back toward the main fleet at full speed. The com officer, Lt. Sarah Keenan, looked up at the admiral, "Sir, we're receiving a message from the aquatics, spoken only." He looked at the human and nodded, "Put it on speakers." The human com officer reached out and touched a button, and a voice that sounded as if it was running through a bit of water and lightly accented but clearly female, rang out over the bridge com. "You are trespassing in the sovereign territory of the Arakainian Federation in the Ritneer System. As you have yet to launch any sort of attack, we are inclined to believe that you are not connected to the Wickedian Empire and as such are not here for any nefarious purpose in this system. As you arrived in system due to an unknown means, and did not travel through the void between systems, we will allow you to speak your peace and hope that it is not a waste of time. Your force may out number us, but do not expect that this will be an easy fight. Our peoples will fight till the last breath against you if you prove hostile!"

The entire bridge crew looked intrigued over the message. Advara looked thoughtful for a few moments, then looked at Sarah and gave the order. "Tell the ambassadors to do their jobs. Weapons officer Daneer, power down everything but the MACs and leave them at 35%. Let the rest of the fleet know to do the same but keep the shields active. Radeem let me know when we have a development in the negotiations. Everybody, I suggest getting as much sleep as you can before the interesting things start." With that, he walked off the bridge heading toward his personal quarters.

It took over four earth hours to get over the initial negotiations out of the way. The initials covered who both parties represented (the Arakainian Federation consisted of four sentient species, the Arkainian (they looked like the grays of Twentieth century lore, except that their eyes were bright green as opposed to imagined black and their skin was a dark yellow), the Arakus (a bipedal feline race, their fur was short, soft and came in all colors. Their eyes had an Asian slant, with straight slanted pupils. They came in all colors as well), the Dariaus (a species that evolved from a tentacle bearing ocean species. They evolved in to a bipedal species as well. Their species was a light purple, with very ephemeral skin. They have a beak instead of a mouth, and need a mask circulating water around their beak and numerous mobile tentacles instead of hair) and the Barakus (a species that evolved from an insect species with many legs like an earth centipede. They had many arms and hands, making them perfect for building work. Their many faceted group of four eyes, gave them a clarity that none of the other species in the Federation that were all two eyed, could achieve), what the goal for the negotiations was and a whole list of other things that wouldn't interest normal citizens.

During the negotiations, Radeem kept picking up phantom signals originating from one of the land based planets heading toward the direction the fleet had arrived from. She tracked it back to the very base it originated from on Arkain (the Arkainian home world), and was tracking it in the direction it was heading for. Ten minutes after the negotiations ended, she discovered where the signals where headed. There was an entire fleet of ships heading for the Ritneer system. The fleet was massive; the number of ships equaled the old Migrant Fleet (over a thousand vessels) that the admirals' people used to use. "Admiral, there are signals originating from the Arkainian home world to a flight in deep space. The fleet is heading here at high sub-light speeds. The current speed will put the fleet in system in a week." The admiral looked interested at that, and turned toward Sarah. "Ask if the Federation is expecting any visitors, and if not let them know that they have a fleet in coming."


End file.
